Dark Destiny 1x06 In Black And White
by Dark Destiny 1329
Summary: Using his powers to their fullest potential, Michael continuously attacks the Charmed progeny and their two charges. Slowly, he picks them off, one by one. Starting with Talia, he moves down to Wyatt, then Bianca… Will they be able to fight him off?
1. Scene One

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series  
****Season One, Episode Six**  
**In Black And White **

**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever)**

**Full summary: Using his powers to their fullest potential, Michael continuously attacks the Charmed progeny and their two charges. Slowly, he picks them off, one by one. Starting with Talia, he moves down to Wyatt, then Bianca… Will they be able to fight him off? And what's with Bianca's strange behavior?  
**

**Disclaimer: We don't own Chris, Wyatt, or Bianca (or any other cannon characters we forgot to mention). We do, however, own Prue, Jenna, Mack, Parker, Peyton and Talia (and any other original characters we forgot to mention) and would appreciate it if you didn't steal our characters without (A) asking our permission and (B) giving us the credit for them. Thank you!**

* * *

Scene One

---Song: Waiting for You - by: Jordan Pruitt---

Impatiently, Chris paced back and forth across the floor in front of the stairs. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he shot a quick glance up to make sure Bianca was nowhere in the vicinity before extracting a small, velvet box from his right pocket. Almost nervously, he opened the cover and smiled at the diamond ring resting peacefully within it. 

He recalled the day he'd found the ancient ring, though perhaps "found" wasn't the correct word. More like it had found him. He'd cast a Lost-&-Found spell after misplacing an assignment he'd written for school, and a few too many objects made their way back to him… like Freddy, the dead goldfish he, Wyatt, and Prue had flushed down the toilet a few months back. Apparently "down the toilet" qualified as "losing" something. One object to return was the old ring, one he'd never seen before.

Wyatt hadn't known what it was either but shrugged and told him to keep it: it might be worth a lot of money someday.

Well, Chris had kept it. Maybe at first he'd intended to sell it, but now he had different plans entirely. Running his finger over the edge of the box, he closed it again and quickly shoved it back into his pocket.

"Bianca!" he called, irritated. "Are you ready yet or not?" The only time she ever got this way – obsessed with clothes to the point where she took hours to prepare – was when the two of them were having dinner with his parents. Seeing as they hadn't had dinner together with Piper and Leo since the aging couple had moved to Magic School about three years ago, Chris had a difficult time figuring out what exactly was keeping her.

"Coming!" she yelled back; and suddenly, air rippling gently, she appeared behind him. "Sorry," she gasped. "Couldn't find my damn shoes."

Rolling his eyes, he wrapped his arms around her waist and leaned down to press a passionate kiss to her lips, which she eagerly returned. "Ready now?" he murmured, pulling apart less than an inch to speak. His breath brushed against her lips, and she smiled gently, nodding.

"And I've got the perfect place," she grinned. Before he could say a word, she shimmered the two of them to a sweet, little restaurant in Venice. They reappeared in a narrow hallway. From the only window, moonlight poured into the cramped space.

A few feet in front of them stood a towering man, who didn't seem the least bit fazed by their entrance. "Ah, Bianca," he said, an Italian accent lacing his words, "so nice to see you again." The smile dropped slightly from his face as he quietly added, "I'm so sorry to hear about Nicholas."

Dropping Chris's hand, Bianca pulled the big man into a tight hug and replied, "It's nice to see you, too, Matthew." As she released him, she continued, "How've you been? Has your mother heard from my mom recently? She wasn't home today." She smiled politely but said nothing about his comment about Nicholas; she didn't want to think about that now – or ever.

"I've been good; business is good. As for your momma, I believe she's in London visiting Jeremy and Marissa. You know they just had their second daughter about a week ago."

Nodding, Bianca made her way back to Chris and tugged him gently forward. "Strange," she commented absently, "She didn't tell me she was going. I'd have loved to go with her; it's been so long since I've seen either of them."

"Yes, well, they called her just sort of out of the blue, and she decided to go. I only heard about it because they asked me to come as well, but I couldn't with work and all. Are you two planning to have dinner here, or did you just need a magical stop off to shimmer to so no one would see you?" He ushered them forward and into the open area of the restaurant. There stood rows and rows of different sized tables, some positioned firmly on the ground, some floating high above people's heads.

Little fairy waitresses zoomed past, balancing trays at least forty times their size. They scribbled fiery notes in the air, taking people's orders, which instantly vanished only to reappear in the chef's kitchen. The chef himself rarely left the kitchen, a courtesy to those who couldn't stand the intense stench that radiated from his skin. With seven hands he could cook delicacies in half the time it took a mere mortal to accomplish the task. His limbs, grotesquely large and pale gray, curled over one another as they mixed, sprinkled, and kneaded. Luckily for all involved, the stench did not carry over into the food. In fact, it was quite the opposite. The chef, even with his unusual appearance, was known, in the magical community at least, to be one of the best chefs in all of Europe.

"No, we're having dinner," Bianca replied, flashing Chris a smile as he shook his head with a chuckle. This was such a Bianca thing to do – decide to go somewhere spur of the moment without giving any notice whatsoever.

Matthew turned to Chris, politely offering his hand to shake. "You must be the boyfriend," he guessed. "We've heard so much about you."

"'We'?" Chris echoed in confusion, shaking the man's hand.

"The Phoenix clan," he explained. "We're a tightly knit family, so everyone's in everyone else's business. I've heard you Halliwells are the same." Chris laughed in agreement, nodding. "I gave up the family business a while ago; I'm a gondolier now, and I love it. It's so…" His eyes scanned the room as if searching for a sufficient word. "Freeing," he said at last with a sigh.

Suddenly, a tiny voice in Chris's ear asked, "Table, sir?" Chris turned sharply, searching for the owner of the voice, and found a small, male fairy fluttering beside his head. Impatiently, the creature repeated, "Table? For two?"

"Uh… yeah. Sure." He blushed as the fairy motioned for the couple to follow him through the crowd, sitting them down at a table in the corner of the room. Matthew waved goodbye and headed to the other end of the room, where a bar attracted loners and people just looking for a simple drink.

---

Jenna tripped and stumbled along, having no idea where she was going. She felt along the wall until she suddenly ran into something. It was large, and hard - but there being little to no light in the room, she couldn't tell what it was. She assumed it must have been a box left on the floor by accident or some such thing, but it didn't matter much. She could feel herself pitching forward and she knew that in less than a second she was going to fall over face first and make a total fool of herself. But in that split-second she could feel strong hands grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her back up. Once she'd fully re-gained her balance the hands dropped away.

"Sorry about that. We don't have the lights fixed for out here yet. It's the next thing on the list, though," said Wyatt, from behind her. She didn't have to be able to see him to know that he was smiling awkwardly and blushing. It was so cute when he did that.

"Where... are we exactly?" Jenna couldn't help but ask. She knew it was some sort of a surprise, but she was getting curious. Now having moved around whatever it was she'd tripped over, she continued to stumble along, feeling her way along the wall, until she came to what would seem to be a doorway. Again, she nearly tripped, but this time she was able to right herself before completely losing her footing.

"Just a second," said Wyatt. Jenna could hear him snap his fingers and suddenly the room was flooded with the soft glow of candlelight. They were standing in a large room filled with glass tables and large, cushy booths. In the center of the room there was a four-tiered glass fountain, and each level was decorated with candles. Jenna gasped and for a moment, Wyatt was worried that she'd been frightened by how he'd just used his powers - that is, until she turned around to face him and he saw that her face was as lit up as all of the candles in the room put together.

"Wyatt, it's beautiful. What is this place?"

Again, Wyatt blushed. "It's my restaurant. Well, mine and Prue's. She runs the business end of it; I do the cooking. I wanted my own place so that I could finally have the freedom to put whatever I want on the menu, and design the menu, and just design everything, and to not have to answer to anyone. And I got to design the look of the place myself. Well, Prue helped of course, but you get the point."

He was rambling again; Jenna quickly hid a smile.

She simply nodded and turned around again, looking the restaurant over in detail. The main room was large with high ceilings but no windows. There was a border all around the top of the wall, as if someone had simply cut the walls back a few inches at the top. It looked strange, but then she figured there must have been some reason for it. That or the building had just been built that way and no one had since bothered with fixing it. The walls were painted an elegant shade of dark blue and there were round tables of all sizes spread out all over the room. The tables appeared to be made of a thick, clear glass and looked very elegant, just like the shade of blue used on the walls.

There were two large steel double doors at the back of the room, connecting to, she guessed, the kitchen. Lining the left side and back walls were booths covered in what she guessed from the distance and the lighting was some sort of fine navy blue plush material. The booths had square tables that were made of the same sort of glass as the rest of the tables.

In the center of the room was what she'd noticed first - the fountain. In front of the fountain sat a small glass table for two. On it, sat two napkins, two sets of cutlery, two wine glasses, and a small bottle of red wine. In the center of the table there was a small glass vase holding a single red rose.

"Wow," said Jenna, "Do you go all out like this for all of your dates?"

"Umm, well, I don't really, umm, date all that much... really..." Wyatt stammered. He led her towards the table and pulled her chair out for her. This time, it was Jenna that blushed and smiled.

"You really are a knight-in-shining-armour type, aren't you?" she laughed.

"You know, I seem to get that a lot," said Wyatt, though it seemed he wasn't quite sure why that was.

"So, does this restaurant of yours have a name?" she asked once she was settled into her seat.

"Actually," said Wyatt, "it does." He sat down in his own seat and poured her half a glass of wine. "Prue kind of inadvertently came up with it. The restaurant half, this half, is called Heaven. The other half of it, Hell, which is on the other side of the main room, is a nightclub. We kind of named them after well, Heaven, and the Underworld, though Heaven and the Underworld doesn't have quite the same ring to it; so we went with Hell instead. Besides, most people probably wouldn't get it if we named it the Underworld, anyway."

"That's so cool. I'll have to come and check it out when it's all finished."

"Of course. Everyone's going to come for the grand opening. Though we don't know exactly when that will be yet. We've got the kitchen up and running, and most of this half of it done, but the nightclub part is still unfinished." Then Wyatt looked over at the double doors at the back of the room as they slowly cracked open. "Oh," he smiled, "and here comes the food."

A tall, lanky, dark haired waiter walked out of the kitchen carrying two trays with silver lids. "You... hired someone to serve us our food?" said Jenna.

"Not exactly." The waiter approached the table and set down the two trays, he then took a step back, bowed gracefully, and faded from existence. "He was only a projection."

"A... what?" Jenna frowned and wrinkled her nose, confused.

"He wasn't real. He was just created magically. He was more or less an image created to do a specific task."

"You mean... you conjured him?"

"Not exactly. I can conjure things too, but that works differently. In order to conjure something, you first need a material object. Like this rose." He paused and reached out, grasping the rose by its stem. An instant later, it was no longer a rose, but a lily. "Projection is different. It's the ability to bring thoughts to life." He dropped his hand from the flower. "Close your eyes for a moment, and I'll show you." Jenna frowned in confusion for a moment, but ultimately she did as she was asked. Wyatt waved his hand in the air and suddenly there were rose petals coating the floor. "You can open your eyes now." When Jenna opened her eyes again she gasped for the second time that night. Wyatt noticeably blinked and a rose appeared in his hand. With a small smile, he handed it over to Jenna. "Of course, if you prefer say... sunflowers, or daffodils, or... something else, I'm not really very good with names of flowers. But I can conjure those, too."

"Actually," said Jenna, "roses are my favourite." She lifted the rose and inhaled its sweet and delicate scent. It smelled as sweet and as fragrant as any she'd ever had the chance to smell, whether it was real or simply conjured. She smiled and placed it inside the vase beside the lily.

She then turned her attention to the plate of food in front of her. "And I'll bet you cooked all of this food before I got here?"

"Of course," said Wyatt, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. It would seem that he didn't think that this was anything out of the ordinary, that this was just an average first date.

Jenna just shook her head and took the top off of the plate. As soon as she'd placed the lid down beside her, it vanished in a shimmer of blue and white lights, as did Wyatt's. "Did you just..."

"Orb the lids into the kitchen? Well, yeah. But if you don't like me using magic I can stop. I guess I'm just kind of used to it."

"Oh, no, not at all! I'm just still kind of stunned by it all. I mean, I'm still getting used to this whole magic exists thing." Again, Jenna smiled. Outside, thin, idyllic clouds rolled over a perfect, starry sky. It was a perfect reflection of Jenna's mood: dreamy and pleasant.

Again, she looked at Wyatt and smiled, shaking her head. "How is it possible that you're this perfect?"

"Um... perfect?" Now it was Wyatt who was confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the flowers, the rose petals, the cooking dinner, and you even pulled my chair out for me. I mean, I've never, ever had a guy do any one of those things for me, let alone all of them at once."

"Well, I'm not perfect, far from it for sure; but maybe you've just gone out with the wrong kinds of guys up until now. Because I don't think this was all that difficult. Well, having magic helps, I guess. Actually, it probably helps a lot, but still... well..." Wyatt paused, looking down for a moment as if gathering the courage to speak up again and to look her in the eye while speaking. "I think you deserve it."

This stunned Jenna into complete silence and it was all she could do to smile and eat her dinner as neatly as she could. Though she was getting the feeling that Wyatt wouldn't have exactly cared if she'd made a mess and spilled something.

-Opening Credits-

Theme: Resolve - Hewit

Starring: Wes Ramsey, Drew Fuller, Ashley Leggat, Marisol Nichols, Brittany Snow, Miriam McDonald, Channing Tatum

Co-Starring: Joy Lauren

Guest Starring: Raoul Bova (as Matthew)


	2. Scene Two

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series**  
**Season One, Episode Six**  
**In Black and White**  
**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever)**

* * *

Scene Two

"Dinner is served." said Prue in a mockingly elegant tone as she sank down into the couch next to Talia. She handed over a plastic bowl full of reheated teriyaki chicken and rice - they were leftovers from the previous evening. Talia laughed and nodded, shaking her head. "Thank you."

They sat in silence for a few seconds as Prue first searched for the remote and then turned on the TV. They both ate their food and Prue flipped through the channels. After about thirty channels, Talia spoke up. "So, why is it that Chris and Bianca are off who-knows-where, and your other brother has taken my sister out on a date, somewhere lovely, I'm sure; and the two of us are sitting here and eating leftovers?"

"So you don't like my company; is that what you're saying?" said Prue. She shook her fork at Talia, some food still in her mouth and a grin on her face. "'Cause I could be out there at a club or doing something exciting, I'll have you know."

"Please put the weapon down," said Talia, giggling through her words. "We don't need a tragedy here. Not any more of one than we've already got."

Prue swallowed her food and looked over at Talia, curious. "Oh? And what tragedy would that be?"

"The tragedy of two beautiful girls like us not having dates on a Friday night." Talia had barely finished speaking when the doorbell rang. "I'll get that."

Prue nodded and took another bite of her rice. "'Kay. I'm gonna go get a soda. You want one?"

"Sure," said Talia as she made her way to the door.

She looked through the glass before opening the door to see if it was anyone she knew. It wasn't.

"Hey, Prue," she called out, "you know this guy? Tall, shaved head, blue eyes, big muscles, unbelievably attractive?"

Not getting a response, she shrugged and opened the door. The second she did so she regretted it. Oh, crap, what if he's a demon? What if... I've just let a demon in? She worried as he took a step closer. He didn't step inside, but he was now standing right in front of the door, rather than a few steps back from it.

"Well, you are not who I was expecting, but this does involve you as well. Hello," said the strange and mysterious man. The instant he spoke the idea that he could be a demon flew straight out of Talia's head. In fact, all thoughts flew straight out of Talia's head.

"Uh... yeah... uh... hi," said Talia with a smile. Meanwhile, a tiny voice in her head was screaming, Act cool! There's a cute boy at the door and you're blowing it! She smiled, flirtatiously this time, "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I'm Macklin Munroe. I'm a freelance photographer, and there are some photos I think you should see." He continued speaking, but Talia stopped listening. All she'd heard was that he was a photographer. And that must have meant one thing: he'd found them out. And that lead her to one thought: he was a threat. He was a threat, and she had to get rid of him. The man had stepped inside and closed the door, causing Talia to back up, her shoulders slowly creeping up around her neck defensively. He was waving photos in her face now and talking rapidly, not that she could understand him. All she knew was he had to be destroyed. Talia cocked her head at the stranger – she'd already forgotten his name – and growled. Without so much as thinking about it, she transformed into a black panther. And she charged.

-Commercial Break-


	3. Scene Three

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series**  
**Season One, Episode Six**  
**In Black and White**  
**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever) **

* * *

Scene Thre

Talia charged at the unknown man, her near razor sharp teeth less than a centimetre from his pant leg when suddenly something strange happened: Instead of running, he knelt down to pet her. He ran his long, course fingers over her head and down her shoulders. He was speaking to her again but softly this time. If Talia concentrated, she could just make out the words. He was saying, "It's okay, I'm not here to hurt you. I'm not a threat. I won't hurt you. No, I won't hurt you. Calm down, it's all right. Yeah, it's all right." And before she knew what she was doing, Talia was purring and rubbing her head up against his leg like a harmless kitten.

He smiled and took a step back. Then, to her immense surprise (or, if she hadn't been so completely dazed, she would have been surprised), he knelt down in front of her and tore up the photos he'd been holding in his other hand. "See? I'm not going to use them. I just wanted to warn you is all. I'm not a threat."

Talia nodded, an odd gesture for a feline, and purred again. Once he stood up to his full height she began to circle around him, her tail playfully swishing back and forth, batting at his legs as she passed him. She looked up at him and cocked her head, this time out of curiosity instead of anger.

It was then that she noticed Prue standing in the dining room doorway, staring in open-mouthed shock at the two of them. She was holding the two cans of pop she'd gone to the kitchen for and one limply fell from her hands to the floor, landing with a soft thud and rolling away. She loosely held on to the other one with one hand, her mouth still gaping open. "Talia?" she said. Some of the words were fuzzy, but Talia could tell that Prue was shocked. Then Prue looked to the man. "Uh, she's uh… a… a… a… well… she's…" Prue stammered, unable to come up with a decent lie or explanation for the situation.

Somehow, she didn't think this man would believe that her new friend had an inexplicable disorder that turned her into animals randomly.

"It's okay. I know," said the man, saving Prue from having to relay such a pathetic excuse. He knelt down and started to pet Talia again and instantly, the feline stopped circling him. She purred and rubbed up against his legs, and the man smiled down at her.

---

"So, why did you decide to become a chef, anyway?" said Jenna as she chased a last sauce covered noodle around her plate.

"Well… I guess I kind of just always knew this was what I would do. My mom's a chef, too; so I guess I got it from her. She taught me to cook when I was little, like, five years old or something. And I don't know… I guess I was just… good at it. Now Chris on the other hand…" Wyatt laughed, remembering when they'd been kids and the many times Chris had tried to cook but only ended up setting things on fire – literally.

"I'm guessing there's a story behind that…" said Jenna.

"Well, yeah." Again, Wyatt laughed. "Chris is such an awful cook. Mom banned him from the kitchen by the time he was twelve. He was always setting stuff on fire. And I mean that literally. I'm the one with the power of pyrokinesis, but when we were kids Chris was always the one needing the fire extinguisher. After a while, my mom would only let him set the table. He wasn't allowed to help cook any more. Only Prue and I were allowed to help actually cook dinner. And it was funny because Chris would get so annoyed, like he was being cut out of something."

"You know, most kids don't like to help with making dinner. I guess you guys must be pretty close, huh?"

"Well, yeah. I guess we enjoyed that more than most kids. I guess it was like… it was like for that one hour every day, we didn't have to worry about demons, we didn't have to think about spells, we were just like any other normal family. We grew up with it, life being dangerous like that; so it wasn't a big deal or anything, but it was nice to have that time every day just separate from magic."

"Dangerous? What do you mean?"

"Well…" Now Wyatt looked down and got a little bit quieter. "I mean with all the demon attacks and everything, my house has always been kind of dangerous. I guess part of why we're all so close is that we couldn't really have many friends over; so we kind of just hung out together a lot, just us cousins. Now, don't get me wrong, I had plenty of friends in school, just not many of them ever came over. And I was always kind of busy with fighting demons and learning about witchcraft and that sort of thing. And Prue had plenty of friends, too. Just, it was the same thing. You know, you couldn't really bring friends over if you were always worried about demons attacking. Even after we transferred to Magic School, we couldn't really have friends over. Most magical families aren't quite as… intense as mine, I guess."

"What do you mean?"

"There are witches out there that have never once so much as seen a demon. Not all witches are as… actively involved in saving people and fighting demons as my family is. But we're all just used to it, you know? I think it was harder for my mom and my aunts because they didn't grow up with magic, but we did, so it's not unusual to us… That sounds weird, doesn't it?" Wyatt paused for a moment, almost as if thinking this idea over, but he soon continued on. "Magic school was a lot better than mortal school, though, even if not everyone quite understood what it was like to go out vanquishing demons. It was at least easier because we could at least use our powers there and not have to worry about exposing magic."

"Magic… school? You mean there's a school just for magic?"

"Yeah, we all transferred there after about… I think it was the fifth grade. Parker, Paris, Peyton, and Mel all started there, though. Well, Mel and Peyton live there…" Again, Wyatt looked down, this time busying himself with cleaning up the plates off the table.

This did not go unnoticed by Jenna, but even though she could tell it was something he didn't wish to speak about, curiosity egged her on and she asked him anyway. Of course, she'd never have guessed why it was that the two youngest Halliwells lived away from home. "Oh, really? That's kind of cool. I always wanted to live at a boarding school. I always thought it would be so cool to live away from my parents like that. I bet their parents miss them terribly, though."

"Yeah. They would have." Wyatt spoke quietly, so quietly that Jenna almost didn't hear him. He didn't give her the time to ask him about it either because less than a second later he got to his feet and said, "If you're done, I'll take your dishes to the kitchen."

Jenna nodded, all the while wondering why he didn't just summon another illusion or whatever it was called to take the dishes away or orb them away like he'd done with the tray lids.

She watched as he walked back to the kitchen, two sets of dishes in hand. He'd left the wine glasses and the small bottle of wine on the table, luckily; so she paused to pour herself some more wine. Once she had filled her glass, she went back to silently watching him walk away. As he walked in through the steel double doors, she couldn't help but wonder what kinds of secrets he was hiding.

After all, their discussion seemed to have disturbed him. Huh, she thought, as she turned her attention to her glass of wine, Maybe there's more to him than I thought. It's funny though: he seems so cheerful most of the time…

---

Talia smiled up at the man and instantly changed back into her human form. Before she had the chance to apologize or speak at all, the man spoke up. "Good. You're much prettier this way, you know."

Talia blushed. "Well, thank you, I think. Why… why are you here, exactly? And sorry I —"

"I'm here because I was in the Arboretum taking pictures for an assignment a while back, and I accidentally caught some pictures of you and your friends orbing. I figured I should come over here and warn you. I'm pretty sure there was no one else in that section of the park that day, but I figured I should tell you just in case. And, of course, I figured if there was any chance to talk to witches or whitelighters, I just had to grab it. I wouldn't bother publishing the pictures. No one would believe me anyway. They'd just think I photoshopped them, I'm sure; but I do find it interesting."

Of course, not that Prue or Talia knew, but most of this was a lie. He'd taken those pictures on purpose, and he knew all about witches and whitelighters, being half witch himself. He was also half demon, but he wasn't about to let that slip. It was better if they just though he was a mortal.

"Oh. Oh…" said Talia. She remembered that day. That had been when she, Wyatt, and Jenna had been out searching for Chris and Bianca after they'd disappeared. They'd gone to the park but had left shortly afterwards, having been unable to locate Chris or Bianca. She'd had no idea that anyone else was there at the time, and to be honest she'd been a little surprised that Wyatt hadn't noticed it either. Wasn't he supposed to be an expert on things like that? "Okay. And on to my second question: How do you know about all this? And how did you find me here?"

More lies: "Firstly, I have access to a newspaper database, so it wasn't terribly difficult - I came across an article on a new restaurant involving the Halliwells, a family already well known for the long-lived club in town, P3, as well as a chain of restaurants, Charmed. And from the pictures of that, I figured out who the man with you that day was, so I looked up the address and came here. Finding you here was just a nice bonus. And secondly, my parents were into the supernatural. I grew up around it. There is one thing I don't know, however. Your name."

That had been the only even partially honest part to what he'd said. He already knew who Wyatt Halliwell was. There wasn't a demon, half-breed, or otherwise that didn't know that revered name. All he'd really had to do was ask around in the Underworld to find out that both Wyatt and Chris had new charges - two sister witches, Jenna and Talia Beckett. What he didn't know was whether her name was Jenna or Talia.

He had also known she would be here, and he had come here looking for her specifically. Though he knew it was a bad idea to get involved with a witch, especially one so closely tied to the Halliwells, he found himself unable to resist her wild beauty and the passion in her eyes caught in the photograph he had just torn to shreds. She'd caught his interest and he couldn't stop himself from following through on that.

"Oh. Well, I'm Talia Beckett." Again, Talia smiled at the strange man. It would seem this man checked out, and she certainly wasn't about to let an opportunity like this pass her by. So she did the first thing that came to mind: she asked him out. "And if you're not too scared of me already, maybe I could buy you a coffee to make up for this?"

"Scared of you? Not at all. I mean, you only tried to kill me," he teased.

"Hey! Well…" Talia paused, trying to come up with a good comeback. "Well, you have to admit, it's not a very bright idea to introduce yourself by showing incriminating photos of a person."

"True," he agreed, nodding. "Especially when that person has the power to transform into any animal she chooses."

"Well, you should have been more prepared then," said Talia. She started putting on her shoes and reached for her jacket. "Hey, Prue, you don't want to come with us, do you?"

"No thanks. I generally try and avoid being the third wheel when I can," Prue remarked dryly. "I'll just chill out here." She raised the soda she still held in her hand. "Have fun you two." She shot Talia a mischievous wink before heading into the living room and back to the TV.

Talia shook her head at the Halliwell and turned to look back at the man. "Ready to go? Uh… I'm  
sorry but what was your name again?"

"Mack Munroe." He waved at the door. "After you." He waited until she stepped ahead of him.

"Right," said Talia, "Well, thank you, Mack."

From just behind the doorway of the living room, Prue watched the two of them leave. Once they'd gone, she returned to the living room, sinking back into the large, cushy couch. She picked up the remote and began flipping through the channels again. There was still nothing on. "Compared to the drama of life around here, TV is almost pointless," she muttered to herself.

---

"So, Mister Mack Munroe, besides having an interest in the supernatural and being a freelance photographer, what is there to know about you?" said Talia. She took a long sip from her hot chocolate. It was still a little bit chilly outside, it only being late March; and the hot chocolate was warm.

"What is this, a dating show?" Mack laughed. "There's not that much of interest to know about me." He took a huge bite out of his chocolate ice cream and looked over at her. "What about you?"

"Well, I like to know who it is I'm out on a date with. I like to know more about them than their occupation, hobbies, and the fact that they like eating ice cream when it's cold outside. It's good to know things about people; that way, you know, I know they're not serial killers or something."

"Oh, well in that case…" Mack couldn't help but laugh again. This girl certainly was strange – but it was in an interesting and almost cute sort of way. "My name is Mack Munroe, I'm 21 years old, and I enjoy ice cream." He raised his ice cream cone into the air to make his point. "I like walking around in parks, especially at night." He waved his free hand at the area around them, a park, again, to prove his point. "And oh yeah, I just love to take girls back to my apartment and turn their skins into lampshades."

At this, Talia laughed. "Okay, ha-ha, very funny. I wasn't saying I thought you were dangerous, just that I want to know a little more about you is all." Little did she know that being half-demon, he really was quite dangerous.

"Not that it would matter if I were so terribly dangerous," said Mack. "I get the feeling you can protect yourself."

"Well, yeah, I suppose so. But not really. I mean, I only learned I was a witch about six weeks ago… I guess that must seem pretty strange to you, huh? That there are people that have actual magical powers."

"Not as strange as you might think. I grew up knowing magic exists. It's never been something that's stunned me. Besides, how many guys can say they've gone out with a girl that can change into a panther or any other deadly animal? For instance, if someone attacked us, you could change forms and attack them. Pretty handy trick, really." Of course, if an enemy, mortal or otherwise, attacked us, I would protect her. It wouldn't matter what she would think, I'd protect her anyway, he added silently.

"Well, even if you don't feel stunned by it all, I do. I mean, okay, so I can change into animals, right? But that's nothing compared to what my friend Prue can do, or what Prue's older brothers, Wyatt and Chris, can do. Or my sister Jenna. She can control the weather. Well, she can't do it very well yet, but she can actually do that. Or Prue, she can move stuff just by thinking about it. Or Chris, he can do that, too, and this orbing thing… and this sensing thing… It's just amazing. And then there's Wyatt. The guy's like a walking power factory. He can do this thing… I don't know what it's called, but he creates, like… energy balls… like, in the palm of his hand. Chris can do that, too, only not quite the same way. The way he does it, it's like he creates electric volts rather than energy balls. It's just so…. just amazing."

"Yeah, I know. It's almost enough to make mere mortals like me jealous. Well, not quite. At least this way, I don't have to deal with any demons coming after me." Again, he silently added, Yeah, I wish…

"Yeah, I guess I never thought of that. So, if you could pick any power, any power in the world, what would you pick?"

"Hmmm…" said Mack, pretending to give the question some deep, actual thought. "I would pick the ability to shimmer, and go anywhere I want in the whole wide world."

"Shimmer?" said Talia, confused. She'd never heard of that power before.

"Yeah, it's the demonic version of orbing." When he saw the worried look on Talia's face, he continued. "Don't worry though, it's not the powers that are good or evil. It's how you use your powers that makes you good or evil. I just think shimmering looks cooler."

"Oh, okay."

An awkward silence fell between them then, but Mack soon spoke up again to fill in the silence. "Well, it's getting late; I should probably walk you home."

"Yeah. I'd like that." Another silence fell between them, but this time Talia spoke up. "So since you seem to know so much about magic, can you tell me the difference between witches and warlocks and why, if they have the same powers and it doesn't matter what your powers are but how you use them – why their powers work differently? I saw something about that in this book at the Halliwells' house that warlocks are evil and their powers are different."

"Well," said Mack, "it's different because though the powers are the same, they're being used differently, so they work differently. It's kind of hard to understand. See, well… a warlock is evil, so their powers act differently. A warlock's powers are more malevolent, more violent and more vicious. They may have the same powers as a witch, but since they use their powers in a more violent way, their powers become more violent."

"So warlocks are more powerful?"

"Well… yes and no. From a technical standpoint, yes, they are more powerful. But at the same time, a warlock is evil and can't be healed by a whitelighter. So that's a weakness. Warlocks don't get a whitelighter either; they're on their own. And warlocks don't have the same kinds of allies as witches do. Being evil and being treacherous themselves, they don't trust anyone; so they don't really have any allies. They're all on their own, which, at least in my opinion, is a major disadvantage."

"Oh…" said Talia slowly, trying to take it all in.

"Do you understand it or not really?"

"Well… sort of. It's a lot to get your mind around."

"Yeah, but you'll get used to it sooner or later," said Mack. Without asking, he took Talia's hand in his and they walked in companionable silence for the last few blocks before they reached the manor.

And all the while they were talking, Talia never once thought to question why Mack knew so much about magic.

---

Wyatt walked back to the table and sat down and for a moment; the two of them were silent.

"So… now what?" asked Jenna. "Do you want to go back to the Manor and watch a movie or something?"

"Actually… I have a better idea. Get up." Wyatt got to his feet and extended a hand out to Jenna. Expecting he was going to do something like magically turn on some music and ask her to dance, she got to her feet. She was about to comment on how bad a dancer she was when he took her other hand and orbed the two of them away. Confused and a little frightened, Jenna squeezed her eyes shut tight and squeezed his hands even tighter.

When they landed, she opened her eyes again and at first, all she saw was Wyatt standing in front of her – everything around them was dark, completely and totally dark. It was almost as if there wasn't anything around them at all. And then she looked down. Below them was a bridge – the Golden Gate Bridge – and hundreds of cars zooming by, filled with people.

For a split second she wondered, But wait… if the cars are below us… where are we? Then she looked around. Sky surrounded them; it didn't look like there was anything around them because, besides the sky itself, which was now a dark, there wasn't. And then she looked down again and saw that she was standing on a massive red metal platform of some kind. Wait, if the bridge is below us…

The instant she realized exactly where they were, she gasped and then squeezed Wyatt's hands even more tightly. Wyatt only laughed.

"You can't have… we're not… seriously? Are we really? We can't possibly be… we're not on top of the bridge, are we?" Jenna half-spoke half shouted the words for fear she wouldn't be heard over the cars below – that was until she realized she couldn't hear the cars below them. It was entirely silent. "This can't be real," she nearly whispered, petrified.

Wyatt nodded, an excited grin on his face. "It is. And we are actually on top of the bridge. Cool, huh?"

"Uh… well…" Jenna muttered. "Umm… we're on top of a bridge!" was all she could think to say. "How do you… why did you…" she stumbled over her words, trying to get across just how stunned she really was. She also wanted to explain to him just how terrified she was at this exact moment. It wasn't exactly that she was afraid of heights, but this? They were on top of a bridge, for crying out loud! A very, very tall bridge. What was stopping them from being blown right off of it? But she had to admit: as scary as it was, it was still kind of exhilarating at the same time. She hadn't done many dangerous things in her life, and this about topped the list one million times over. She was about to try to tell him all of this when a burst of wind swept past and all around them. The wind was so fierce it nearly blew her over. In response, she shrieked and jumped forward, toward Wyatt. Instinctively, he dropped her hands and wrapped his arms around her protectively.

There was a long pause – a moment in which neither of them knew just what exactly to do. Then, Jenna smiled and said, "So what are you waiting for? Kiss me already!" She couldn't help but laugh. And besides, it wasn't like there could possibly be a better moment than this.

I've been spending way too much time with Talia, she thought, thinking of how it was usually only her baby sister that was that forward.

"Well… okay…" He blushed slightly and drew her closer before finally kissing her.

---

"No… seriously…" Talia whispered in between kisses. "I should go inside now…"

"Uh-huh…" Mack whispered into her ear. He then resumed kissing her neck. They'd been standing on the front porch of the manor for at least ten minutes now, Talia talking of how she should probably go inside for about six of them – not that she really wanted to go inside anyway.

"No… really…" Talia broke away from him, giggling. "Seriously. I should go in now."

Mack nodded in agreement, but wrapped an arm around her waist, holding her still. "You really want to go inside?" His face was only inches from hers, teasing her, tempting her.

"Well, no, but I should." She slipped away from him and grinned like she'd just won a competition. "But I tell you what… why don't we continue this tomorrow? Say… seven o'clock? We could go for dinner instead of just ice cream."

He kissed her one last time and nodded. "I'll pick you up here."

Talia nodded back, smiling. "Uh-huh. Well… Goodnight, Mack."

"Goodnight." He walked down the stone steps to the Manor and waved at her one last time before turning the corner. He waited until he was out of sight to shimmer back to his apartment.

Talia walked in to the Manor and sighed happily, leaning up against the door. She stared up at the ceiling dreamily, re-playing the events of the night in her head.

"My… you move quickly." Prue sauntered out of the living room, a smirk on her lips and the can of Coke she'd been drinking earlier, now empty, in her hand.

Talia looked around in a mock-innocent 'who, me?' fashion but after a moment she shrugged. "Like you wouldn't do the same if you were on a date with a guy that looked like that."

Now Prue shrugged. "Probably…" Then she paused for a moment. "Yeah. Definitely. He's so… so… Does he have a brother?"

Talia laughed. "No, sorry, I don't think he does. I'm pretty sure he's an only child."

Prue pretended to pout for a moment but soon shrugged it off. "Oh, well. That's life. So what did you guys talk about?"

"Later," said Talia. "First, food. I'm starving. I kind of missed dinner. We just went for coffee. Except he got ice cream." She shook her head but smiled anyway. She really had a wonderful time.

"In March? Strange. And of course, food. I just made some spaghetti. Those leftovers were completely inedible. And I figured you'd be hungry."

Talia's smile widened. "Halliwell, I like the way you think." She nearly ran into the kitchen and quickly found two bowls and two forks and began dishing pasta into them.

"Whoa, slow down there. That's enough pasta to feed a full-sized horse; I don't eat that much," said Prue. Immediately, she took her bowl and dumped out at least half the pasta.

Talia shrugged. "More for me, then." Before she even sat down, she ate three large bites of pasta, slurping it loudly.

"So, what did you and Mack talk about?" Prue asked as she sat down and started digging into her own much smaller bowl of pasta.

"Well…" said Talia. She paused to swallow the food in her mouth and then continued. "I dunno. Not too much, really. Magic, families, there were jokes about meeting random people and thinking they were serial killers. Jobs, hobbies, that sort of stuff. It was fun. And he's funny, too."

"He's cute, he knows about magic, and he's got a sense of humour?" Prue raised an eyebrow. "Wow. If you don't marry him, I swear I will." She walked over to the fridge, opened it, and stuck her head inside to look for something to drink.

Nodding, Talia agreed, "You don't have to tell me twice."

Prue pulled a carton of juice out of the fridge and held it up to Talia. "Want some?"

"Sure."

Prue nodded and turned to the cupboards, grabbing two glasses and filling them with juice.

"And also, I just have to say this, he's a really, really—" Talia started, intending to tell Prue what a good kisser Mack was, but she stopped suddenly. There were strange black lights dancing in the middle of the kitchen. They looked like orbs, only… not. She wasn't sure. But something seemed off about them.

"He's really, really what?" asked Prue. She turned around, glasses full of juice in hand. Then she noticed the black orbs. "Talia! Duck!" she yelled. Hurriedly, she placed the glasses down on the island counter and telekinetically shoved the orbs up against the wall, causing them to slide to the floor. The Darklighter materialized in a slump against the wall. He got to his feet with a sneer on his face and shouted, "You didn't tell me there would be witches!"

"What, you didn't know that witches live at the Halliwell manor? You obviously didn't do your research very well, Darklighter." Prue raised her hand into the air, dragging the Darklighter up into the air, his feet kicking uselessly all the way up. "Who sent you?" she demanded.

Unbeknownst to either girl, Michael had teleported in under the cover of an invisibility spell and had summoned the Darklighter. "Patience," he hissed quietly at the Darklighter – after all, he didn't want to get caught. Not yet, anyway. "They'll come."

The Darklighter narrowed his eyes at Michael and black-orbed out of Prue's grasp. He landed behind Talia but didn't make a move to do anything. Talia panicked. She wanted to protect herself, protect them both. She knew she had the power to do so, but she couldn't seem to access it. The fear of the creature behind her overwhelmed her and blocked out any ability she had to defend herself.

Prue on the other hand, was well prepared for unpredictable demon attacks, having grown up with them her whole life. She raised her hand into the air, once again dragging the Darklighter into the air, his feet flailing under him. Her intention was to raise him into the air, then separate his head from his body, effectively ending the threat he posed. However, she didn't quite manage to get that far because a second later he black-orbed away from her again. Now he re-appeared beside Talia and with a small 'bang' and a puff of smoke, a mechanical, black crossbow appeared in his hands. And it was directed straight at Prue.

Not knowing what to do, Talia screamed for help. "Wyatt!"

"Talia, no!" Prue cried, but it was too late.   


-Commercial Break-


	4. Scene Four

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series**  
**Season One, Episode Six**  
**In Black and White**  
**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever)**

* * *

Scene Four

Bianca looked up to see Chris staring at her. Again. Smiling despite herself, she questioned, "What are you looking at?" raising an eyebrow as he grinned, eyes still watching her.

"You look beautiful tonight," he informed her softly, and she shook her head at his antics.

"Come on, Chris, you're not acting like yourself – something's up."

"Well…" Hesitantly, he dug into his pocket and retrieved a small object, which he clutched tightly in his hand as if afraid he might lose it. "We didn't really…" He laughed self-consciously before continuing. "The first time I proposed, it wasn't exactly…"

"Conventional?" Bianca supplied with a grin. Chris nodded. "Of course it wasn't. I was crying over you while you were dying a slow death from darklighter poisoning. Can't get much more original than that."

"Right. But, well, you deserve better than that – a real engagement."

"Oh, Chris," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "Don't be ridi—" She froze mid-sentence when he opened his hand, revealing a royal blue, velvet box. As he opened it, she gasped at the ring glistening within. "Oh my god, Chris, you didn't…"

"I love you, Bianca," he murmured as he slid the ring onto her finger. After all, she'd already said yes. "When I proposed the first time under"—he grinned—"unique circumstances, I didn't have the ring. I thought maybe, if you wanted this one… you could… well, wear it…" His voice fell off at the end of his rambling, and he felt his cheeks grow hot.

Of course, had he known that this was a ring that had been cursed, he never would have placed it on Bianca's delicate finger. But he hadn't read the inscription that read, "To gain another is to lose yourself," so he had no idea about the horrors that were in store for him and his beautiful wife-to-be.

---

With a startled gasp, Wyatt jerked away from Jenna.

"Is something wrong?" Jenna cocked her head to the side, confused. She shivered and instinctively wrapped her arms around herself - she'd forgotten just how cold it was up here.

"No. Everything was perfect. Too perfect," Wyatt sighed. "And of course, things being too perfect, the universe decided it just had to intervene. Talia's calling for me; she sounds panicked about something." Again, he sighed. "We should go."

"That's that sensing thing, right? I hope everyone's all right..." said Jenna distractedly. Suddenly her mind was whirling with thoughts of all of the terrible things that could have happened. She was so distracted that she didn't much seem to notice as Wyatt took her by the hand and orbed the two of them away. In fact, she only noticed they'd orbed at all once they'd landed.

She might not have even noticed they'd landed except for that she heard Prue call out from behind them, "Wyatt! Orb out! Go, quickly!"

Talia was standing in front of them, over by the table and Prue was behind them, behind the island counter. She spun around to look at Prue and ask what was going on when she heard something explode in front of her. She spun around again and saw that all of a sudden Wyatt looked angry and there was a large scorch mark on the wall. There were these strange dark lights, almost like dark orbs floating in the air and when they touched down to the floor, there was a tall, dark and dangerous looking man standing there. And he was holding a weapon - a crossbow. "Wyatt, what's going on?"

All Wyatt said in response was, "Leave, now!" but she couldn't be sure exactly who he was talking to, her, Prue and Talia or the strange man. He made a fist with one hand and had another energy ball ready in the other.

Then the strange man turned to his side and spoke to some seemingly invisible accomplice, "Well, he'll do," and proceeded to fire his crossbow. He fired so quickly that no one had the chance to react. One second the arrow was fired and the next it struck its target. It landed squarely in the center of Wyatt's chest and for a moment, Wyatt looked almost confused. He blinked, staring down at the arrow sticking straight out of him - it would seem he didn't quite understand what was going on. But then he shook his head and looked back up at the Darklighter, his eyes narrowing. He raised one hand and his lips moved as if to speak, as if to attack the Darklighter. But nothing happened. Not a single sound was emitted. The Darklighter just stood there and grinned as he watched the mighty Twice-Blessed witch fall to the floor in agony from the effects of one small, poisoned arrow.

Jenna looked at Wyatt, lying in a heap on the floor, and then at the Darklighter and started to scream. The lights flickered and, outside, the darkened skies changed from beautiful and idyllic to cloudy and angry. Rain smashed against the windows nearly hard enough to break them. Lightning coursed through the skies and thunder crashed, the sound as deafening as if it were in the room. There was a fierce wind outside knocking over everything that wasn't bolted down. It was the wind that finally broke the back windows. The glass seemed to explode, shattering into thousands of tiny pieces and flying into every possibly corner of the kitchen. It was all Talia and Prue could do to duck and cover their heads against the sheer force of it.

Taking that as his cue to leave, the Darklighter began to black-orb out, but Jenna stopped him. A bolt of lightning came surging through the now broken windows and seemed to wrap itself around the orbs, squeezing the life out of them. The Darklighter reappeared for an instant, but he continued to float in midair, the lightning now electrocuting him from the inside out. He let loose an ear-splitting scream before disintegrating into ashes.

Once the Darklighter was destroyed, Michael teleported away. Once again, mission accomplished. It had been the wrong whitelighter, sure; but it wasn't exactly as if he liked this world's version of Wyatt anyway. He was much too good for his own good. And besides, even if the wrong Halliwell had shown up, this would still hurt Chris. And after all, that was what he'd wanted in the first place.

Finally, Jenna stopped screaming. She spun around wildly, looking for Prue and Talia. "Prue? Talia?" she called out, panting. "You guys okay?" The lights stopped flickering and turned back on. Outside things began to slowly quiet down. Even the rain gradually ceased.

The two girls got to their feet and looked warily at Jenna. Talia's mouth hung open, as did Prue's. "Wow..." Talia whispered. "And I thought..." she didn't finish her sentence. She wasn't sure how to. Prue seemed to have the same opinion - sheer and utter shock and near disbelief. If she hadn't seen it with her own two eyes, she wouldn't have believed it. Mild-mannered Jenna was a one-woman wrecking crew; who would have guessed?

Jenna nodded, seemingly just as bewildered as the other two and dropped down next to Wyatt. "Hey... can you hear me? Are you okay?" Wyatt only groaned in response. She looked up at Prue and asked, "Is he going to be okay?"

Prue just bit her lip. She didn't say anything. She couldn't say anything. Instead, she busied herself with cleaning the room up. With a wave of her hand the shards of glass all over the room gathered themselves into a neat, tidy pile at the floor in front of the windows.

Talia stepped around the counter and looked down at her sister as she impossibly hopefully held on to Wyatt's hand. She kept trying to talk to him, to wake him up, but the only response she'd get out of him was a strangled sounding groan. It was enough to break anyone's heart. And it was her fault. "I'm sorry... this is my fault..." she whispered. Just as Jenna started to cry, so did she. She couldn't stand to see her big sister so upset. Or to see a friend injured the way Wyatt was.

"It's not your fault," Prue whispered in response. "You didn't know that this would happen."

"I disagree, but whatever. What's wrong with him?" asked Talia. She sounded a bit angry - and most of it was directed at herself.

"He's..." Prue heaved a sigh, "...poisoned."

"Well... we can save him, right? I mean, we have to save him, we've got to!" Jenna nearly shouted, tears flowing freely down her cheeks. She had to noticeably work not to let sobs distort her words. "We've got to do something!"

Prue nodded. "We will... we've just got to-" she paused, taking a deep, calming breath "-get help." She jumped up on the island counter, sitting just on the ledge of it before starting to yell. "Chris! Parker! We need you! Get down here, now! Hurry! Chris! Parker!"

---

Bianca smiled brightly, and if Chris had been paying closer attention he'd have noticed that the twinkling in her eyes was very, very unlike her. Normally, the young witchlighter was a stickler for details, but that moment found him concentrating on something else – a voice in his head, calling, begging, for his help.

Pushing his chair back, he stood up and, with a quick word of, "I'll be right back," hurried across the room to where Matthew sat on a stool by the bar, already severely drunk. If Chris had any doubts of the Phoenix clan's abilities to protect one another – even while drunk – he wouldn't have gone to Matthew. However, after living with Bianca for so long, he knew the Phoenixes were on their toes in whatever state of mind.

"Matthew," he said, catching the man's attention. "Can you just go over and keep an eye on Bianca for me? I know she can take care of herself and all, but… I'll just be gone for a minute; and I worry about her sometimes."

Smiling sympathetically, Matthew replied, "Of course. To have someone that loves her as you do… I would do anything for her myself."

"Thanks." Chris breathing a sigh of relief. "Just – you know, don't let her know that I asked you to watch her. She'd skin me alive." The two chuckled and returned to Bianca. "Hey, Bi," Chris called to his fiancé, who was currently twisting her hand this way and that to watch the way the diamond caught the light. "Prue's calling me, so I gotta go. I'll be back as soon as I can, all right?"

"Sure," Bianca murmured absently as Chris vanished in a swirl of orbs.

---

Chris reappeared to a state of chaos. On the floor before him, Wyatt was sprawled out, darklighter arrow jutting out violently from his chest, dangerously close to his heart. At his side, a panicked Jenna sobbed. She turned with tear-filled eyes to stare at the younger Halliwell brother and begged for him to heal Wyatt. "Please," she whimpered. "Do something."

"I-I can't heal," he stammered, kneeling beside her. "Oh god…"

Go find Parker! his thoughts screamed. What are you waiting for? Go find Parker! Without even bothering to stand up, he summoned his orbs and disappeared from the Manor. He could sense her sleeping in her dorm – along with her roommate, and he had a feeling her roommate might be slightly suspicious if a guy suddenly appeared in their bedroom. Although Wyatt was in dire need of healing, the mantra that had been instilled in Chris from a young age stopped him from immediately orbing into Parker's bedroom: do not expose magic to mortals. Sure, he'd save one life… and possibly destroy the rest of the family's. No, he couldn't.

Instead, he orbed a few streets down from the campus, into the first alleyway he came across. Instantly, he was off at a run, praying he wouldn't make it there too late.

Meanwhile, as his orbs departed from the manor, another's swirled into view, materializing into Parker's exhausted body. "You do know I have an exam tomorrow morning," she grumbled, rubbing the sleep from her weary eyes. "I'd like to get some sleep before then."

"Later," Prue barked sharply, pointing at Wyatt's prone form.

Immediately, Parker's hands dropped limply to her sides. "I can't pull out the arrow," she said, all traces of humor gone from her voice. "I might get infected. Prue, you'll have to do it."

Biting her lip, Prue knelt by Wyatt's side, gently shooing Jenna away with quiet reassurances that he would be all right. Wincing with the knowledge of the pain Wyatt was about to face, the youngest of Piper's children whispered, "I'm so sorry, Wyatt. This is for your own good." Then, she flipped him up on to his side and ripped the arrow out from his back, squeezing her eyes shut as a scream of agony tore through his throat. She let him fall back onto his back, his eyes still squeezed shut.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she cried, dropping the arrow as if it were repulsive to her and covering her ears to block her brother's screams.

Not giving Prue a chance to say more, Parker elbowed her out of the way and said, "Wyatt, hold still for a few more seconds. It's almost over, I promise." Hands hovering over his chest, she closed her eyes and opened the gate that secured her healing powers. It took a few minutes, but Wyatt's wound finally began to shrink and then vanish altogether.

She opened her eyes to find Wyatt grunting and slowly sitting up. The first person he looked to once his eyes were open was Jenna, who was attempting to control her frantic sobs in the corner of the kitchen. "I'm so sorry, Jenna," he croaked, throat dry and lips cracked. "I didn't mean for any of this to happen in front of you."

He nodded his thanks as Prue silently pressed a glass of water into his hands. Her returned smile was tight and nervous.

"I don't mind at all," Parker quipped, eyebrows raised. Scoffing, Prue smacked her cousin in disbelief.

"Come on," Talia said to the two cousins. "Let's… go see what's on TV or something…" She eyed them carefully, letting them know exactly what she meant: Give Jenna and Wyatt a moment alone.

With a sigh of relief that all was back to normal (whatever that meant), Parker followed Prue and Talia out of the room. "I should head back," she said, concealing a yawn. "Like I said – that exam tomorrow. Not fun." Pulling her cousin into a quick hug, she said, "G'night, Prue." She offered a polite wave to Talia and let her orbs consume her. Quietly, she snuck back into bed and curled up under the covers.

---

No more than a few seconds passed before someone rapped loudly against the door. "Parker!" a voice called frantically. "Parker, open up!"

"Parker!" her roommate snarled in frustration. "Tell your boyfriends that they can't come past certain freakin' hours!" Livid, April turned over and slammed her pillow on top of her head.

"He's not my"—again, Parker stumbled out of bed—"boyfriend." The door banged open, and Parker glared at her older cousin. Shoving him into the hallway, she closed the door behind her. "What the hell is the matter with you?" she demanded, squinting as the bright light of the hallway almost blinded her.

"Look," Chris replied, cutting her off. "I know you might be pissed, but that can wait. Wyatt's in trouble; he's dying. A dark—" He paused, frowning. "Why are you laughing?"

"Boy are you late, Chrissy," she retorted, patting him sympathetically on the shoulder. "I already orbed over there and saved the day… or night, rather. So, if that's all you wanted to say…" She let her voice trail off and opened the door to her room. "'Night, Chrissy," she teased. "Sweet dreams. Tell Bianca I say hello."

Sighing, Chris shook his head. What a useless waste of time that had been. But at least everything was back to normal - more or less. Rolling his eyes up to the ceiling, he orbed back to salvage whatever was left of his date.

---

"Hey," Shakily, and with much effort, Wyatt got to his feet and walked over to Jenna. "I'm sorry. I guess I kinda ruined everything, huh?" He sank down to the floor next to her and let out a sigh. So much for the perfect evening.

"No..." Jenna shuddered. She took a deep breath and wiped her hand across her face, trying to clean herself up at least somewhat. "It wasn't your fault. Besides, I'm just glad you're, you know, okay and all."

"Of course I am." He tried to give her a confident smile, tried to prove he hadn't been scared in the least, but it didn't quite work. "It'd take a lot more than that to take me down. And trust me, I've been through worse. We all have."

Jenna nodded, but didn't speak.

"So... I'm guessing you did all this?" he asked, gesturing to the general state of disarray of the kitchen.

"Yeah, I think I did. I saw what happened to you and I just sort of... I dunno. Something in me just snapped, I guess. I think I scared Talia and Prue." Jenna let out a sigh and looked down at the floor. She slowly brought her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. "I think they think I'm dangerous… And I think they're right."

Wyatt put his hand on top of hers and said, "I don't think you're dangerous. I don't think they do either. You just need to learn to tame your powers, that's all."

Jenna looked up to see him watching her, but he quickly shifted his gaze once he realized she'd noticed. "Thanks. And sorry about..." She paused, now feeling somewhat embarrassed. "You know, the mess."

"Nah, don't worry about it. I can fix it no problem in the morning. But right now, I think the best thing to do is go to bed. Much as I hate to admit it, I'm exhausted." With a yawn, he got to his feet and stretched.

"Oh, yeah, well, I guess I better..." Jenna stuttered.

"Well... there's a spare room upstairs if you just want to sleep here for the night. I mean, your place is kind of far from here, right?" And aside from that, not that he'd ever tell her so, he much preferred the idea of her and her sister staying at the Manor. The apartment she shared with Talia was small and dirty, and the surrounding neighborhood was not a nice one. With another yawn, he extended his hand out to Jenna to help her up.

"Thanks," she said quietly as she got to her feet. "I would like that."

She took a step forward but stumbled, her legs nearly giving out underneath her.

"You okay?" Wyatt rushed forward and put his arm around her, helping her to stand.

"Yeah," she replied, blushing in embarrassment. "Just tired. I guess using that much magic took a lot out of me."

"Yeah, that usually happens when you use your powers that much for the first time. But don't worry, you'll get it eventually. It just takes some practice, that's all," said Wyatt as they headed for the stairs. They walked slowly, Wyatt with his arm still around her waist even though she was fully capable of walking on her own.

From the shadows of the darkened living room, Talia and Prue watched as Wyatt and Jenna walked upstairs together.

"You want to tell them how that looks or should I?" said Talia, her eyes wavering from the late-night talk-show flashing on the television screen to her sister and Wyatt walking upstairs and back.

"I think we should just wait until they figure it out for themselves," said Prue. "Besides, I don't think it's like that. There's a spare room upstairs, and she'll probably just end up going to sleep there. Knowing the two of them, they're probably just tired. Speaking of which..." Prue paused and yawned. "Right now, so am I. Sleep sounds like a smart plan. There's a spare bed downstairs in my room if you want to just crash here for the night."

"Thanks," Talia responded with a yawn of her own. "Those are contagious," she groaned, referring to her yawn. "But sleep is good." Not without a little struggle, Talia climbed to her feet; and Prue soon followed suit.

"Off," she commanded, and the TV went blank as the two girls headed off to the basement.

"Hey, Chris didn't come back... He's not out still looking for Parker, is he?" asked Talia. She stumbled through the semi-darkness of the bedroom in the basement and headed for the spare bed just across from Prue's. Without bothering to take off her clothes (not that she would have had anything to change into anyway), she fumbled with the sheets and climbed under the blankets.

"He probably went back to wherever he left Bianca," Prue grumbled. She was already under the covers of her bed and had been half-asleep when Talia had spoken.

"I bet you that pisses her off," said Talia sleepily.

"Bet what pisses who off?"

"Bianca. I bet she gets annoyed that Chris has to run off like that all the time. I would." Talia yawned and pulled the blankets up around her chin, snuggling into the blankets.

"Nah, she's used to it by now. Not to mention – how many times has she had to use the same 'family emergency' excuse? Now, sleep. Stop talking," growled Prue. She, on the other hand, slept just barely under the blankets. After many years of demons attacking, both at night and during the day, she preferred to be able to jump up at a moment's notice instead of being all tangled up in the sheets.

"Okay, okay, goodnight."

"That counted as talking."

"Yeah, well so did that," Talia laughed.

-commercial break-


	5. Scene Five

**Dark Destiny Charmed Sons Virtual Series**  
**Season One, Episode Six**  
**In Black and White**  
**Written by: Darien (aka alternate-universe-princess) and Shan (aka charmedgrl4ever)**

* * *

Scene Five

"Hey, Matthew, see how shiny my ring is? See? Isn't it so pretty?" said Bianca. She waved and flashed her hand in front of his face for the thousandth time and, even though he was drunk, Matthew could tell there was something wrong with her.

"Bianca, are you all right? You do not seem like yourself." He took a long look at her and then took an even longer drink of wine. "It is not like you to be so obsessed with material objects."

"Oh, I know, but just look at this ring! Oh, I do wonder how he afforded it; I mean just look at it! It's so large and shiny! It must have cost ever so much," Bianca cooed.

"Uh..." Now Matthew was starting to get weirded out. "Okay... you know, if that boy did something to you that I don't know about, if he somehow cast some spell to make you... like this, I will hunt him down and kick his ass right now."

"Oh, no, he didn't do anything to me, silly! I'm just fine. Better than fine, really. I mean, really, just look at this ring! Isn't it wonderful?" Again, Bianca waved and wiggled her hand around in front of Matthew's face.

"Right..."

"But where is that boy? I do miss him terribly." Suddenly, Bianca smiled brightly. "I think I'll go find him." Then with a much too girly giggle for someone like her, she shimmered out of the restaurant.

Matthew just sat and watched as she shimmered away, completely and utterly confused. "Women. I just do not understand them. And yet"—he sigh—"I cannot resist them." With a shake of his head, he got up and walked back to the bar to catch the attention of a tall blonde that was currently on her fifth martini.

---

Bianca shimmered into the kitchen of the Manor to find it dark, cold, and empty. She glanced around at the mess created by the battle earlier. "Well, oh, my, this simply will not do!" she exclaimed. With a sigh, she walked to the closet in the laundry room and snatched up the broom to start cleaning.

She was just about to start sweeping when Michael teleported in behind her. He walked right up behind her and whispered in her ear, "You know, this is almost a shame; it's much less dramatic than I would have hoped. But I figure since my earlier attack failed because I failed to finish the job that if I could get you alone, I would make sure I finished the job." He drew a knife and raised it to her throat. "But it doesn't matter. I'm going to enjoy this all the same," he whispered as he drew the knife slowly across her throat. Through the knife he could feel her slowly swallow and just the simple act of knowing that he held all the power in this situation gave him an immeasurable amount of pleasure.

He lifted his hand to make a long, slow incision right across her throat, but in that second he released his hold on her; and she spun away from him. "How rude!" she exclaimed. Quickly, she raised the broom still in her hand and knocked the knife straight from his. "That behavior is simply unacceptable, mister. What makes you think you can behave like that and get away with it?" She lifted her free hand to her neck and rubbed at it tenderly. "You almost scared me half to death, I'll have you know!" Quickly, she swung the broom around in her hands, now holding onto the bottom end and aiming the rounded top at Michael. She swung the broom straight towards Michael's head and, had the hit struck him it, most surely would have knocked him out. However, he ducked easily, avoiding the makeshift weapon.

It had been an easy attack to avoid and it was one that was far below Bianca's normal skill level. Realizing that the Phoenix was not herself, he changed his plans on the spot. This meant she would be in a permanently weakened state. And that meant she would be an easy target for an extended period of time. And that meant that maybe, just maybe, he could get his dramatic ending after all. "Oh, I will certainly have some fun with this."

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" demanded an insulted Bianca. She swung out at him with the broom for a second time, and again, just like the last time, he easily ducked out of the way.

"Oh, you'll see exactly what I mean soon enough." With those parting words, he gave her a macabre grin and teleported away.

As a response, Bianca shuddered. But the emotion passed and she soon went back to her task of cleaning up the kitchen. Not much later, the sound of orbs landing behind her shattered the silence.

"Hey. Sorry I had to leave you at the restaurant like that." Chris walked up behind her and moved to wrap his arms around her waist, but she spun around to face him, stopping him. Immediately she was on the defensive, makeshift weapon in hand and all.

"Bianca? You all right?" he asked, confused. "You're not mad at me, are you?" Slowly, he took a few steps back. If she was mad at him, it was best not to be within striking distance. Even if she was holding up a broom as a weapon.

Easily, Bianca smiled. "No, not at all, baby. You just startled me, that's all." Her overly perky smile widening, she dropped the broom and stepped closer to Chris. "But it doesn't matter. You're here now, so we can go upstairs. It's awfully late, you know. We should get to bed."

"Uh, since when does going to bed late bother you?" asked Chris. And since when is Bianca ever startled? She can always sense people coming… Again, he took a step back. Something was off here; something was definitely wrong.

"Since always, silly boy," Bianca replied with a girly giggle. "And did I tell you how brave I think you were? Rushing off to save those in danger." Again, she giggled. It was a sickeningly sweet sound to come from anyone's lips, but coming from Bianca it sounded doubly strange. She closed the space between herself and Chris, embracing him almost immediately, wrapping her entire self all around him. She twirled her fingers in his hair and smiled idyllically. "You are my hero, baby."

"Uh... umm..." Chris stuttered. "Bianca, you're not yourself... something must have happened. I should..." He didn't get to finish his sentence as Bianca giggled and suddenly started kissing him.

"Enough talking, silly. We should go upstairs." Again, she kissed him and this time, she shimmered the two of them upstairs to their room.

-End Credits-


End file.
